Three Small Words
by o.ForeverYoung.o
Summary: "It's funny isn't it? How three small words can completely change the direction of someone's life. Three small words like "I love you" or "I hate you" or "I want you" or "I need you" or, yes, even "I forgive you." – Dair, spoilers for 100th Episode.


**A/N: **Okay, so you've been warned. If you don't like spoilers then please stop reading **HERE**. This is based vaguely on the spoilers that there's an "epic dair scene" in 5x13 and that Penn and Leighton filmed a scene at JFK. I wasn't going to write a "dairport" (man I love whoever came up with that word) fic, but I thought I might as well considering everyone else is. The newest Ausiello spoilers about the scene are leading me to believe that the scene may not necessarily be romantic, so this story is kinda based on my speculation regarding that.

I love reviews (good or bad), they honestly make my day (sad I know)...so _please_ let me know what you think. Enjoy.

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><p><strong>Three Small Words<strong>

She could hear voices all around her, and yet she didn't understand any of them.

She couldn't breathe. The hands on her dress, patting down her hair, fixing her veil, they owned voices, but yet she didn't notice. She didn't pay attention. The hands left her, and she continued to stare at the same place on the wall.

She felt as if she had left her body, and was now watching the situation unfold from the outside.

She was moments from walking down the aisle to marry Louis. The church was packed, her gown was perfect, her mother, Dorota and Serena were all rushing around the room making sure that not one hair was out of place, not one piece of makeup was smudged.

And yet the bride stood silent and still, having left her body quite some time ago.

Silent tears were shed throughout her body that seemed to go unnoticed. She had never felt so overwhelmed and out of answers.

This was what she wanted…right?

The limo crash had finally forced the realization on her that her and Chuck's love was destructive. And even after Louis found out that she'd lost their baby attempting to run off with another man, he had still wanted to marry her. He was a good man, a prince, and he loved her.

And yet while her head was telling her that this was what she wanted, her heart was being weighed down by agonizing knots of confliction.

She suddenly became incredibly lightheaded, and she must have almost collapsed, because in that moment Serena, her mother and Dorota had all run to her side in alarm.

"B!" She'd heard Serena gasp. "Are you okay?"

She couldn't stop her head spinning enough to form a coherent response. She brought her hand to her forehead and shut her eyes, attempting to anchor herself. She could hear the concerned voices of the three females in the distance, but yet her brain could not compute what they were saying. Her heart was thumping violently in her ears. She needed to center herself badly, she needed something, _someone_ to help her try and make sense of all of this.

"Dan."

She wasn't sure where it had come from, or whether she had actually said his name aloud…however the three confused faces that materialized when she said his name indicated that she had. She didn't care about any of that now though. "Where's Dan?" She asked again.

Dorota was the one to catch on. "Ah yes, Mr. Humphrey always able to calm her down." She announced. "I go get him!"

"What? My cater waiter? Really?" Eleanor asked in surprise. She nodded to Dorota however indicating for her to go and find Dan to get her daughter out of her current state.

"No, you can't get Dan." Serena said quickly, before turning to Blair with a sympathetic look on her face. "He's gone B."

Serena's words crashed Blair back to reality at an alarming rate.

"What do you mean he's _gone_?" She asked in shock. "I just saw him here earlier, he was in a suit for heaven sake!"

"He has a book tour in San Francisco." The blond explained to her friend. "He was planning on leaving after the wedding but Alessandra called and told him that he had to take an earlier flight out of JFK. He had to go…"

"No!" Blair injected defiantly. "He wouldn't do that." She paused as tears began to well up in her eyes, attempting to choke her words. "He would at least tell me that he was leaving."

Serena's heart broke as she watched the pain overtake her friend's features. She knew that it wasn't her place to tell Blair the _real_ reason why Dan had agreed to take that earlier flight. That reason being that he was hopelessly smitten with the bride, and had realized moments after arriving at her wedding that it would be way too hard for him to watch. As much as Serena disapproved of Dan's feelings for Blair, she still knew that he didn't deserve to have those feelings broken to Blair by someone else…especially by his ex girlfriend.

"B…" She began, trying to find the words to say what she was wanting to express to her friend as calmly as possible. "He probably didn't tell you that he was leaving because he didn't think that you would even care." She watched a shocked expression appear on Blair's face, but she continued. "He's been such a good friend to you, but it appears that he never even registers on your radar. Why would he bother telling you that he was leaving, if he expected you to not even care?"

Blair's brows were in danger on disappearing into her hairline. How could Serena even say something like that? That she didn't care about Dan. He had become her anchor, her last piece of home…the one person in her life that she knew she could count on until her last breath. _Of course_ she cared about him. She knew she had never really expressed her gratitude, or even ever properly admitted that she saw him as her friend (her best friend actually considering her and Serena's issues)…but she'd always just assumed that he understood. That he knew that she cared but just couldn't express it because it wasn't in her nature. An unspoken understanding between them.

He knew that.

_Didn't he?_

Confliction suddenly welled up again, and she no longer knew what to do. Just moments ago she was going out of her mind worrying whether she was making the right choice marrying Louis, but now all of a sudden the only thing she cared about was Dan.

This couldn't be happening. This wasn't the way it was supposed to be. Wasn't the way it was supposed to end. She couldn't accept it. _Wouldn't_ accept it. Not now, not after everything that had happened. If she was sure of one thing, it was that she didn't want to lose him.

The cold, desperate sensation of overwhelming panic flooded her veins, and she had found herself doing the only thing that she could…the only thing that made any sense;

She apologized to the three women with her who she knew would have to clean up the huge mess she was about to leave them in, and she ran like hell.

Once out in the street she jumped into the vintage "Just Married" car. The driver looked her up and down in complete confusion, before she told him to stop gawping and get her to JFK airport.

…

Dan sighed as he disinterestedly flipped through the "People" magazine that he'd found abandoned in the check-in area. The articles about the newest reality show featuring the Kardashians did nothing for him. He flipped over the page, and he suddenly felt a lump form in his throat when he saw a picture of Blair standing with Louis. The article was about their royal engagement, but he quickly snapped the magazine shut, not being able to stomach reading it.

He had been beginning to experience regret about leaving, especially in the midst of Blair's wedding.

_No_, he told himself firmly. This was a good thing. If he left, he could no longer experience the agonizing pain associated with being around her but knowing that he couldn't have her.

If he left…she wouldn't be there. He shut his eyes, that statement almost changing his mind completely.

He thought that he could handle going to her wedding, and watching her marry Louis. However he had realized as soon as he got there and caught sight of her that he couldn't. She had been absolutely stunning. Everything from the dress, to the way she glided around the church proudly as if the world couldn't touch her, was simply _Blair_.

Sometimes he wished that she wasn't so beautiful. It hurt him. The previously unknown ache to touch what he realized a long time ago could never be his.

So he remained, admiring her, _loving_ her, from the sidelines as she kept going back to Louis, back to Chuck, but never to him. He'd been beginning to learn over the past few months that there was something utterly debilitating about being "just friends" with somebody that you're in love with. It was like some kind of unusual punishment that slowly destroyed you. You continued to spend time with the other person just to be around them, however the more you did, the deeper you fell, and the more despair you felt knowing that they didn't love you back.

And that's why he agreed to skip out on her wedding and catch an earlier flight when Alessandra had asked him. He needed to get her completely out of his system if he was to ever get over her.

He needed a complete detox from Blair Waldorf, and the incredible hold that she had on him.

He hadn't even told her that he was leaving for the tour. He'd expected that if he had, she'd just look at him and say something along the lines of "_Jesus Humphrey, why are you bothering me with these irrelevant details on my wedding day_? I don't care."

He groaned in frustration and ran his hand through his hair. He looked out the window, wondering when his plane would come in. Glancing at his watch, he decided that he had just enough time to grab a cup of coffee.

As he walked towards the coffee shop, he stared out the window sadly and watched the gray clouds roll in.

…

She cursed for about the millionth time as she tried to make her way through the busy terminal. The whole "run away bride" thing seemed a lot more fun in movies. In reality, trying to run through a crowd in a big wedding dress and heals was a pain in the ass, and quite frankly, humiliating.

"What?" She snapped at an elderly couple who were constantly giving her withering glances and she tried to get around them. She just hoped that nobody recognized her as the princess to be of Monaco. She could just imagine the Gossip Girl blast now: B running away from her royal wedding to catch Dan Humphrey.

Blair continued to give her own withering stare as she ran. Who the hell did Humphrey think he was anyway, running away like this. He had _promised_ that she'd still have him, even if she lost everything else. And yet here she was, running after him through an airport like a crazy person…not the poised Princess who she was supposed to be as of a few minutes ago.

She stopped mid thought, Serena's comments to her about treating Dan terribly hadn't left her. They'd set up camp in her mind and continued to plague her, growing in numbers with each passing moment. The way Serena had worded it, it had made it sound like Dan was using his book tour as a way to get away from _her_.

He was running away from her…her and her complete inability to show any care for him in the slightest. Her, with the power to trample all the niceness and unconditional support that he had ever offered her.

Her…the girl who could suppress any emotion she felt towards him, and tried to see how far she could push him without making him go away.

Apparently, for once her calculations were despairingly wrong…and the result was a tragedy.

She was finally seeing everything. Dan Humphrey: the one who had been there to pick up the pieces when she lost her baby. The one who protected her from everything, including her own worst instincts. Dan Humphrey: The one who made her feel strong when she was weak. The one who led her back to Chuck because he wanted her to be happy. The one who had been willing to drop everything to take her away to the Hamptons to escape. The one who gave her refuge at his loft. The one who had told her that she'd still have him even if she lost everything else.

Dan Humphrey: the one who sat down on the ground with her before he even knew her and encouraged her to confront her mother. The one who always gave her advice about taking risks and not ignoring signs. The one who told her that she deserved to be with someone that made her happy. Dan Humphrey: the one who went with her to Degas exhibits even though he hated them. The one who watched movies with her on Valentines Day. The one who ordered her gourmet pizza and let her fall asleep on his shoulder. Dan Humphrey: the one who made sure that she was eating and getting enough sleep. The one who was willing to help her just because she was his friend.

Dan Humphrey: the one whose actions and words had gone unnoticed and unappreciated by her in the midst of everything else.

She reached the electronic boards; scanning the letters with her eyes to try and figure out what flight he would be taking. She had no idea what she was meant to be looking at. Trust Humphrey to fly commercial.

"C'mon, c'mon, c'mon." She muttered to the screen. "Show me San Francisco…" Her eyes lit up when they fell upon the destination. "C-18." She said to herself, gathering up the bottom of her dress and hurrying away.

…

A few minutes later, she found herself out of breath as she past C-15. She paused, leaning against a column in exhaustion. She glanced up at a giant clock and cursed, realizing that it had been a long time since Serena had said he was leaving. He was probably already gone. Not allowing that thought to stop her, she ran as fast as she could down the last couple of gates, and came to a halt in front of C-18.

She gulped, watching as people loaded onto the plane.

She had missed him.

She pursed her lips, hanging her head and turning in defeat, attempting to keep her tears at bay. In her distress, she bumped into someone carrying a cup of coffee.

"Sorry." She muttered, for once being too upset to yell at someone for getting in her way.

"No, it…Jesus…It's okay."

Blair stopped, turning around at the familiar deep voice. There, with his carry-on strapped over his shoulder and his (far too long) curly hair spilling around his face, crouched Dan. He looked up at her, mouth open in the position for an apology, and he stood up slowly when he saw who it was. "…Blair?" He whispered. He looked at her, standing there in her wedding dress, in complete bewilderment. "Wh…what are you doing here?" He asked her, concern shining through his deep brown eyes. "Where's Louis?"

She stared at him, utter relief flooding through her veins at a rate she thought physically impossible. She didn't respond to his questions, didn't hesitate, and instead threw her arms around him. Her body collided with his, and she felt him stumble a bit at the unexpected contact. He quickly recovered however and put his arms around her. The empty coffee cup fell to the ground with plastic, hollow clatter.

She held onto him as tightly as she could. Clung to him like he was the only solid thing in a world turned upside down…like she had been thrown out into a raging, storm-tossed sea, and he was her only lifeline.

Body shuddering with the weight of her tears, she positioned her face into the warm curve where his throat met his shoulder, and pressed herself as close to him as she could get. If she could have somehow or other managed to insert her body under his skin she would have.

Everything else surrounding their lives fell away…The wedding, the book tour, Chuck, Louis…And every reason why her chasing him was such a bad idea, leaving her just in this moment…wanting him to never let her go.

She felt the way his arms immediately encircled her, and knew that he was feeling the same bombardment of emotions and sensations that she was. One of his arms ran up her back, his palm pressed against her shoulder-blade, holding her to him snugly, while the other cupped the back of her neck tenderly, the unbelievable strength in his fingers muted as they smoothed down her hair.

"I'm so sorry Humphrey." She mumbled into his skin, still not letting him go.

"It's okay." He told her, kissing the top or her head and clutching her to him. "Whatever it is, I forgive you."

…

_I forgive you…_

It's funny isn't it? How three small words can completely change the direction of someone's life. Three small words like "I love you" or "I hate you" or "I want you" or "I need you" or, yes, even "I forgive you."

Blair had noticed that the man that had held her in his arms that day at the airport, the man that did indeed propose to her four years after that day, had at some stage said all of those Three Small Words to her.

And if you'll notice, the minister's not yet to tell Dan that he may slip the ring on her finger in the ceremony that's progressing, and he's already telling her one of those Three Small Words.

"I love you…"

_End. _


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